As the toll of death, injury and destruction rose in Gaza on August 6, the second day of Israel’s surprise attack on the territory, United States President Joe Biden’s administration reiterated its full support for Tel Aviv.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council, said the administration urges “all sides to avoid further escalation”.
But turning reality on its head, Kirby added that the US “absolutely fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorist groups that have taken the lives of innocent civilians in Israel”.
By late Saturday, 24 people had been killed in Gaza and more than 200 injured, according to the territory’s health ministry. [Editor’s note: By the time the ceasefire took effect, that figure had risen to 46 dead, including 16 children and more than 350 injured.] There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries in Israel from hundreds of retaliatory rockets fired by the Palestinian resistance in response to the Israeli attack.
The United States provides Israel with billions of dollars in weapons annually which are frequently used by Israel to attack Palestinian civilians.
As Washington leads the way, its various client states follow at its heels.
British foreign secretary Liz Truss, the frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and prime minister, also inverted reality.
Read the article by Ali Abunimah in Green Left.
[Editor: For a dissection of Ali Abunimah’s position please refer to this episode of ‘The Israel Connexion’.]